Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Great Britan the Second

So as I left you we had arrived at the northern most point of our drive, or close to it. We woke up to the hills around the loch being bathed in cloud, and with us being just below the cloud line. It was majestic and beatuful. As we drove from Loch Locy to Inverness, we passed by loch ness, and stopped at the loch ness discovery centre to see the different statues and the merchandising and corporate idiocy that that goes along with the location that is loch ness, unfortunately. But the location is amazing and Inverness and a few of the other surrounding towns are quite lovely are realy are quite cool.
After spending the day around there we headed south, towards edniburgh & a town called Falkirk. As it was we ended up spending the night parked in a school parking lot in a small Scottish town that was along the way. In the morning we got up and drove to a town called falkirk. There are two reasons to go visit falkirk, one is the antionie wall, the younger sibling to hadrians wall & the falkirk wheel, a circular boat lift, quite a cool feat of modern engineering. We then headed to Edinburgh. Now if you have to choose between Glasgow and Edinburgh, when you are approaching Glasgow take the turn off that says Edinburgh. Its lovely. The Scottish parliament is magnificent, the town is lovely, there history is great, the articutre is cool, there are suvioneers shops and it’s a great place to visit. And its an easy place to vist and get around. I hope to return there one day for the military tattoo but that will probably be when I am a few years older.
That night we got in the car and we drove. By the time I stopped driving that night we had manged to reach Hadrians wall, and found a spot in the parking area for a supermarket to park for the night. After that we jumped in the car and drove up to the National trust & world heritatge controlled sights on hadrians wall. To be honest its cool to see and consider what might have been there and it is realy kinda neet to consider that the romans just decided to build a wall to separate what was therirs and what wasn’t theirs. Well from there we loaded up into the car and drove to a small town called Rippendon, where one of my mates from high school is currently living with his family. We spent the evening enjoying a few beers, a home cooked meal and some of the more simple things in life.
Well this was meant to be my last major day of driving, the final haul, to London. We had decided to spend our final night of our british odessy at gilwell park, London, and then do the “short” drive from gilwell park to London. Well it’s a nice theory. We set out with an idea that we should go and drive some of the A and B roads instead of taking the motor way. Well after a few wrong turns, getting abit lost we manged to find our way across the snakes pass and down to Nottingham. Well as I drove along the motorway I saw a sign pointing to Sherwood Forrest, so we took the turn off and eneded up having lunch that day in Sherwood forrest and I did some archery with a real long bow. Realy kinda cool! Then with a good solid drive down we found gilwell park, found some dinner in the nearby town and then went back to the sight and spent the night. Well after spending the night we explored a bit the following morning and took in some of the history assocated with the sight. I will say that the location of the park is wonderful but is unfortuatnly located near to quite a yuppieish part of London. We had a bit of trouble finding a place for dinner due to who we are.
Well the drive to the hire place for the camper was meant to be easy. Directions from google maps, and an estimate of 45 minutes. Well after 2:30 hrs we made it to the camper place after getting lost, having wrong directions and dealing with London traffic. I will say this, try to avoid driving in London at all costs, its draingin, difficult and stressful. After returning the camper, we made our way to BP House, checked in, went to the discout ticket office, booked tickets to see ave q, went back, freshend up, went to the show, enjoyed it immensely, had trouble finding some where to eat, ended up finding dinner in china town and enjoyed that immensely.
Our final day in the UK we spent at the british museum and just wondering about the town. the british musum is cool and most defiantly worth a vist. But I will also say this. We wanted to go and experience a biritish afternoon tea. Well unless you want to spend £40 per person, don’t bother. But we found a small cafĂ© that did cakes and tea for a few quid so we went there. Once we were done there we headed back to the hostel and picked up our bags and headed to the station, where we boarded the bus. The bus ride out was uneventful.
Well that is it for the british part of this odessey. But now for the highlights, well seeing people, the Scottish highlands and the pure freedom of being able to just park for the night was wonderful.but I have to say Scotland and wales were stand outs. Driving along small country roads. Visiting the little places that are a bit out of the way. I guess my underlying message is to get off the beaten track and don’t just follow the road most traveled through out the United Kingdom, given how similar the langage and the people are to what would be found in other English speaking countires.
Well that’s it for this bit of the trip! Coming soon is the not so long overdue posting about jub jamb and the first part of the main land Europe odessey (I am writing thse notes and stories from my notes made on the road, whilst sitting on the train in germany on my way to venice, which is another odessey in and of its self)
Gonzo

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